Drone grounds firefighting aircraft in California

A plane seen dropping fire retardant in California last year (AP Photo/Al Golub).

A recreational drone grounded a firefighting aircraft battling a massive wildfire in Southern California on Wednesday evening, according to fire officials, who warned that flying such machines in the middle of a disaster zone dangerously gets in the way of emergency operations.

Tonight a hobby drone grounded firefighting aircraft by flying over the #LakeFire. When you fly…we CAN’T! Puts our pilots lives at risk.